Cause of Crusades: Why was Jerusalem so important?
During the time of Medieval England, the city of Jerusalem was the most important place on Earth to Christians, being that Jesus spent nearly all of his life there and was crucifed there. However, it was very important to Muslims as well. The city was captured by Muslims in 1076. The Muslims then built an extremely holy building there, called the Dome of Rock, where Muhammed was thought to have prayed.
What were the crusades?
The Christians we angered and wanted their city back. The war between the Christians and Muslims arose, called the Crusade Wars, or holy wars. The Crusades were made up of military campaigns launched by the Christians against those who took their city away from them. Christians desperately fought to gain back the ownership of Jerusalem, while the Muslims battled to maintain and protect their newly acquired holy city. There were a total of nine Crusade wars, as well as the Children's Crusade.
Timeline of Crusades:
Major Events of the most disastrous crusades:
Christians were triumphant in the first Crusade, when Jerusalem fell to them. The second crusade did not go well since German and French armies did not carry out their misson - capturing Damiscus. A compromise between English King Richard the lion-hearted of England and the Muslim leader Saladin brought the third to an end. Saladin allowed Christians access of the holy places. Constantinople fell as a result of the fourth crusade, leading up to the construction of a Latin Kingdom of Byzantium that stayed strong for around 60 years. The Children's Crusade took place between the fourth and fifth crusades in the year 1212. A french peasant boy, Stephen of the Cloyes, led this holy war. The result was thousands of children that went missing, were killed, or sold into slavery.
Result of the crusades:
The Crusades brought, in a very violent manner, a great spread of Christianity. Areas in the east that could have been seen as a new opportunity for good trading were instead seen as another area to be conquered. Non-Christians continued to loose their lives to violent Christians for centuries after the crusades ended.
Crusader Weapons
Polearms
- razor sharp blade mounted on a wooden shaft, 4 to 14 feet long
- used against knights on horseback
- used to strike, swing, cleave, or poke the enemy with this weapon
Mace
- armor fighting weapon
- close contact weapon
- a long shaft was 5 feet long, a short shaft was 1 foot long
- this was cheap and simple to make
A Crusader knight dressed in battle armor, including helmet, shield, sword, and breastplate.
Crusade Video
There were a series of great massacres that took place during the Crusades. The victims of these massacres were mainly Jews, who were slaughtered at times by the thousands.
^^Muslim^^ ^^Christians^^
Maps of Crusades This map shows territories of the first crusade, the routes taken by Christians and Muslims, and which areas were captured. Any territories of the Muslims are shown in green. Greek Christian territory is shown in pink, and American Christian territory is shown in yellow. What is interesting about this map is how it shows the routes in which the groups had taken. The red lines represent Muslim routes, and the blue lines represent Crusader routes. The black dots represent a seige of that settlement. By looking at this map, you can see what happened during the First Crusade.
This map shows the settlements of the Crusaders on the Mediterranean coast.The dotted line represents the approximate frontier of the crusade states.
Important Crusade Leaders
Raymond IV
Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse, was a leader in the First crusade. He was a very holy man, and would be honored to die on Holy Lands. He had taken part in the Reconquista in Spain, giving him the title of a soldier of Christ. When the First crusade arose, he was happy to join in the fight. He was one of the oldest fighters at age sixty. He was a well-mannered person, but was too greedy and vain. People did, however, praise him as a leader.
St. Bernard
Before the start of the second crusade, St. Bernard blessed King Louis VII. He was a leader who was determined ot get people to commit to the second crusade. He preached to many people about the second crusade.
Pope Urban II
He was responsible for assisting Emperor Alexus from Constantinople, when the first crusade was started. He made one of the most influential speeches when he called on Christian princes in Europe to rescue the holy land by going on a crusade.
The Crusades
by Sabrina Wingard and Nicki Mihalik
Cause of Crusades: Why was Jerusalem so important?
During the time of Medieval England, the city of Jerusalem was the most important place on Earth to Christians, being that Jesus spent nearly all of his life there and was crucifed there. However, it was very important to Muslims as well. The city was captured by Muslims in 1076. The Muslims then built an extremely holy building there, called the Dome of Rock, where Muhammed was thought to have prayed.
What were the crusades?
The Christians we angered and wanted their city back. The war between the Christians and Muslims arose, called the Crusade Wars, or holy wars. The Crusades were made up of military campaigns launched by the Christians against those who took their city away from them. Christians desperately fought to gain back the ownership of Jerusalem, while the Muslims battled to maintain and protect their newly acquired holy city. There were a total of nine Crusade wars, as well as the Children's Crusade.
Timeline of Crusades:
Major Events of the most disastrous crusades:
Christians were triumphant in the first Crusade, when Jerusalem fell to them. The second crusade did not go well since German and French armies did not carry out their misson - capturing Damiscus. A compromise between English King Richard the lion-hearted of England and the Muslim leader Saladin brought the third to an end. Saladin allowed Christians access of the holy places. Constantinople fell as a result of the fourth crusade, leading up to the construction of a Latin Kingdom of Byzantium that stayed strong for around 60 years. The Children's Crusade took place between the fourth and fifth crusades in the year 1212. A french peasant boy, Stephen of the Cloyes, led this holy war. The result was thousands of children that went missing, were killed, or sold into slavery.
Result of the crusades:
The Crusades brought, in a very violent manner, a great spread of Christianity. Areas in the east that could have been seen as a new opportunity for good trading were instead seen as another area to be conquered. Non-Christians continued to loose their lives to violent Christians for centuries after the crusades ended.
Crusader Weapons
Polearms
- razor sharp blade mounted on a wooden shaft, 4 to 14 feet long
- used against knights on horseback
- used to strike, swing, cleave, or poke the enemy with this weapon
Mace
- armor fighting weapon
- close contact weapon
- a long shaft was 5 feet long, a short shaft was 1 foot long
- this was cheap and simple to make
A Crusader knight dressed in battle armor, including helmet, shield, sword, and breastplate.
Crusade Video
There were a series of great massacres that took place during the Crusades. The victims of these massacres were mainly Jews, who were slaughtered at times by the thousands.
^^Muslim^^
^^Christians^^
Maps of Crusades
This map shows the settlements of the Crusaders on the Mediterranean coast.The dotted line represents the approximate frontier of the crusade states.
Important Crusade Leaders
Raymond IV
Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse, was a leader in the First crusade. He was a very holy man, and would be honored to die on Holy Lands. He had taken part in the Reconquista in Spain, giving him the title of a soldier of Christ. When the First crusade arose, he was happy to join in the fight. He was one of the oldest fighters at age sixty. He was a well-mannered person, but was too greedy and vain. People did, however, praise him as a leader.
St. Bernard
Before the start of the second crusade, St. Bernard blessed King Louis VII. He was a leader who was determined ot get people to commit to the second crusade. He preached to many people about the second crusade.
Pope Urban II
He was responsible for assisting Emperor Alexus from Constantinople, when the first crusade was started. He made one of the most influential speeches when he called on Christian princes in Europe to rescue the holy land by going on a crusade.
Crusade Online Game
Crusade Quiz
Children's crusade
Works Cited:
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/cru1.htm http://www.middle-ages.org.uk/crusades-timeline.hhttp://historymedren.about.com/od/crusades/Crusades.htmhttp://history-world.org/crusades.htm
http://library.thinkquest.org/18110/
http://www.middle-ages.org.uk/middle-ages-weapons.htm
http://atheism.about.com/library/FAQs/christian/blxtn_crus_people.htm
http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/bible/crusades.stm
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/crus/hd_crus.htm
http://www.boisestate.edu/courses/westciv/crusades/08.htm